This is for the Veterans
by MrDenim
Summary: This is for the Veterans. *Salute*


**This is for the Veterans. *Salute***

_**{~~}**_

_Stalliongrad_

_11:37 AM_

_One month after the Battle of Stalliongrad_

To say that the crowd was large would be an understatement. There were at least 50,000 ponies alone. Roughly 1,000 gryphons, 750 Minotaurs, and one dragon. Maybe around 1,000 of the ponies were actual Stalliongrad citizens. Everypony was garbed in black and completely silent. There was the occasional sob from a widowed mare or the cry of a foal asking where his or her daddy was and why mommy was crying.

If that was silent, it became deathly quiet when Princess Celestia walked up to the top of a pile of rubble of what used to be the side of an office building. She didn't shine with ethereal warmth or wore her kind smile with love and compassion in her eyes. She was the exact opposite. Her mane still flowed, but just barely. It had lost is glow and silk-like appearance. Her smile was gone, replaced with a sad line. Her eyes were dull and still slightly red.

She levitated a thick set of note cards to where they hovered just in front of her, her golden magic surrounding it. She swallowed and sighed, then muttered, "I can't do this."

She tossed the note cards up into the air; the crowd gave an anxious murmur, but was silent once more when her magically increased voice spoke. The entirety of Equestria was silent with her image projected through enchanted rainfall to where every city, town, village, and roadway had her visible.

"My advisor wrote that speech to make this seem as though our Royal Guard held back the Diamond Dog invaders with no effort, fighting valiantly without fear of death or defeat." She sighed once more, "I'm not going to sugar coat this for you, my subjects. This unprovoked attack killed three thousand of the Royal Guard, seven thousand of the local police force, and…" She paused to suck in a shuddering breath and to stop the tears, "Twenty-five thousand of Stalliongrad's civilian population."

There was cry of anguish from numerous places in the crowd, a few developed into sobs. Princess Celestia bowed her head for a minute before sniffling a couple times.

"Those that stayed behind to defend Stalliongrad even after the civilians had been evacuated were those that had been trapped in the very building you see to your left." She paused to let some ponies take in the sight.

Twilight Sparkle, who was trapped along with the Guard, took in the building in front of her eyes, which was easier now that she didn't have to duck under fire every nanosecond. It was a two story complex with the Equestrian seal above the main doors—which were now gone. The roof, back, and left walls of the second story were missing entirely, lying amongst the destruction of the financial district. There was a flag pole in front of the building, with the Equestrian flag still upside down and at half mast, moving slowly in the wind with numerous holes and rips and tears in it. The rims of the now shattered windows were scorched black from the Diamond Dog flamer units.

She recognized the spot where a sapphire-tipped spear had missed by a literal hair; she could still see the purple lock of hair against the spear-head. She could vividly remember blasting a hole through the stomach of the Diamond Dog that had nearly killed her. She smacked her lips quietly, as if she could still taste the coppery tang of the canine's blood against her taste buds. She turned back to face the crowd and the backside of her mentor, nothing from the innocent Twilight still in her eyes.

Princess Celestia started again, "Stalliongrad would have been lost in less than a day if our Guard hadn't acted as quickly as they did. I stayed up for several nights after the casualties were all accounted for. I was wondering where I went wrong. I had become lax in the past few decades, confident in our nation's safety. I realized how wrong I was when the reports of an invasion started coming in. I had ridded us of all but two of our armed forces because of my confidence, and we paid for it, not just with the cold realization of warfare, but with the lives of over thirty thousand Equestrians."

"So, it is why we are all here today, to remember, to never forget, those that fought and lost their lives so that others may keep theirs. There was a common saying around fifty years back: 'If the death of one pony could mean that a hundred, thousand, even a million ponies might live, would you do the deed? What if that life was yours? What if your life was the one that had to be taken?'"

"That is why, to honor and to remember those that lost their lives on that horrid day, I am naming that building and the surrounding area the Stalliongrad Memorial, with the name of all thirty thousand plus Equestrians that lost their lives engraved on the obsidian wall you see behind me…"

She was quiet for a few minutes, her head down. Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, lifted his head and said, "A salute."

Every Guardspony saluted, Twilight walked over to and stood next to her brother, and saluted as well. A Unicorn mare wearing Guard armor levitated a trumpet to her lips and started playing Taps. Everypony across the entire nation was silent, to honor and to remember those that had fallen.

(Don't continue reading until after Taps is finished, please)

After Taps was finished, Princess Celestia walked over to a pedestal that was covered by a cloth. She lifted the cloth, folded it neatly, and put it on her back, not letting it touch the ground. On top of the pedestal was an obsidian plaque with the words imprinted in marble.

It read:

_Here is the location_

_Of where the Royal Guard fought tooth and hoof_

_To protect their friends, families, nation, and their brothers-in-arms_

_Three thousand of the Guard's lives may be lost_

_But they will never be forgotten_

"_In times of struggle, stallions and mares will fight to defend_

_what they hold dear. Be it possessions, family, friends._

_These stallions and mares fought to defend_

_our nation at any cost, but for them the cost was with their life._

_If we could ask them if it was worth it, I guarantee that each and every one_

_of them will say 'Yes'." – Sergeant Major Hawk Eye_

The unicorn Guardsponies got into a straight line, and sent one beam of magic from their horns for every Equestrian that was lost in the conflict.

Twilight immediately noticed a certain name on the obsidian wall, Private First-Class Sure Shot. Her head lowered as tears streaked down her face, her shoulders shuddering as she cried. Her brother put a hoof on her shoulder. She turned and put her eyes against his shoulder, still crying. Her brother did nothing but embrace her and rub her back.

She still remembered that stallion. The one that was supposed to escort her to City Hall. The one that gave her orders and kept her alive. The one that dove in front of her to take the spear that would have killed her…

But instead it killed him…

It happened fifteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds before the Gryphon and Minotaur reinforcements arrived…

She still remembered…

She would never forget…


End file.
